JLFS

Following on from a previous thread.

I was wondering if:

If people could claim benefits as they could in the UK, working or not working, just like the UK, how many of the families that have returned to England would have stayed.

I would think a great number.

A lot of Brits I know have gone back purely for financial reasons, I am not talking a bout being homesick, missing the family, illness etc.

If the money was available to them they would still be here, having tapas and such.

So if we come to the conclusion that this is the case, we couold say that it may not be a good idea to write of the UK completly as a lost cause.

Bri and Katee

If we could claim jobseekers allowance and all the rest of the benefits that seem to be given away over here in the UK. Then yes, we'd give up work tomorrow and move to Spain permanently 3 years before we can legitimately do so!

jojojojojo

Theres no doubt a lot of people would stay. I knew someone here, who used to go back to the UK to sign on every couple of weeks, claiming not only UB, but carers allowance for a sick relative in the UK. He also did a good trade in ciggies (to pay for his flight he said!!!)

Personally I think to many undeserving people get too many benefits in the UK as it is! It would be a damn cheek if they could simply transfer them and live here - Spain would be flooded with them and of course the money cycle would affect the UK badly. Cos at least while they're receiving benefits there, they're spending it there!

jo xxxx

JLFS

hI JO,

I agree with you about the undeserving, but I did not mean that if people could transfer benefits from England when I asked the question.

_What I meant, maybe it was not clear, was that if Spain had the same benefits as the UK (for its own people as well, of course) how many would have stayed when they fell on hard times, instead of going back to the UK.

The senario was if Spain had the same welfare system, so no fraud would be involved. As in if you cant pay your rent you could claim housing benefit, that sort of thing.

I bet that those doing relativley well now, would if they lost their incomes, would also head back, no matter how much they "hate" the UK, and could not wait to leave there.

Mitzyboy

Well I'm certainly not writing off the UK at all!!

Whats the point of the question, bearing in mind that the benefits you talk of are not available anyway to most so its hypothetical. The problems many face here are due to the rate of exchange disaster which has seen income from the UK that they were relying on dip terribly.

lynnxa

I think you're right

almost everyone I know who has returned for financial reasons has done so because they lost their jobs/business & there was not enough support here - if the support had been here they would have stayed

many have gone back & just signed on - some have since got jobs though

scampicat

I have no doubt that if there were the same State Benefits in Spain as in the UK, then people would have stayed in Spain.

Most people I know who have returned to the UK have done so because of finacial problems (although to be fair, many of them have gone to jobs in the UK, not Benefits).

Mitzyboy

Finances, yes .... but surely people return to the UK to embrace a system they have known all their lives as well. As I said, the benefits arent available, so we'll never know whether they would go for benefits here, or jobs (as many have demonstrated) in the UK.

scampicat

I agree.

It is much easier to be broke in a system you understand, even if you don't get any Benefits.

cricketman

There are benefits in Spain btw, they just dont work the same way as in the UK.

When you lose your job you get so many months of paro, fixed at a percentage of your previous salary, this is usually much higher than job seekers allowance, but runs out after a period of a few months to a couple of years depending on how long you've contributed into the system.

Plus this year we've seen the "crisis" payment of 450 euros/month for those that have ran out of paro.

Then low income families get help with nursary and school payments.

So help is available, but its not so generous to the long term unemployed as the UK is.

Mitzyboy

Im aware there is a benefit system, but judging by the stories I have read and heard of, they dont often apply to Brits who have come here and lost their jobs in the crisis and so returned home. Its down to circumstances I guess

JnK

Also, I dont think they apply to autonomos for some strange reason, it seems that after paying nearly €300 pm it's too bad if you all on hard timesl Mind you, it was the same in the UK (sick pay, etc), we poor self-employed people always got the short end of the stick it would seem and I can't quite figure out why.

Chiclanagir

My neghbour is on disability benefit from the UK but he manages to climb ladders, dig up cess pits use hammer drills without any problems.In fact he is the neighbour from hell

JnK

Dob him in

Madridboy

Agreed....I would!